Field
The following description relates to an apparatus and a method of charging a battery pack including a plurality of battery module or battery cells.
Description of Related Art
In recent times, use of batteries in electric vehicles and other high-performance applications is rapidly increasing, and capacities of batteries are also increasing. As the capacities of the batteries increase, demands for a quick charging technology for batteries are gradually increasing. As quick charging methods for batteries, various methods are being developed. While there may be a trade-off relationship between battery charging speed and battery lifetime, such reduction of battery lifetime can be ameliorated and delayed while still improving the charging speed through a pulse charging method. In a conventional pulse charging method, there is a pause period of a constant duration after pulse charging at a high current. Here, a magnitude of a pulse, a pulse maintaining duration, a waveform, a pause period, and so on, can be designed using various methods. In conventional research, a charging algorithm is deduced using voltage, temperature and internal parameters (overvoltage and the like) of a battery cell or a pack.